Early Times Report
Jammu, July 9: Four days after Jammu and Kashmir authorities slapped a ban on the controversial textbook Personalities and Legends of J&K, one man remains a ghost — its co-author, Hilal Ahmed, has simply vanished.
Highly placed sources reveal that the Counter Intelligence wing of J&K Police has launched an intensive manhunt to trace the elusive author, who allegedly glorified convicted terrorists and separatist figures within the pages of a government-approved school textbook.
The case has already claimed its first casualties, with eight Education Department employees suspended over the book's publication and distribution. But it is the disappearing act by Hilal Ahmed that has investigators most rattled, throwing the entire question of the book's authorship into doubt.
Official sources say the textbook carries two names on its cover — Hilal Ahmed and Santosh Meena. While Meena has been tracked down to Rajasthan, Ahmed has seemingly disappeared without a trace.
"It is still not known whether Hilal Ahmed actually exists or whether the name is fictitious," a source told this correspondent, adding a chilling new dimension to the probe — investigators are no longer just searching for a missing man, but questioning whether he ever existed at all.
The controversy erupted after the book was found to contain content allegedly glorifying terrorists and separatist leaders, with several passages reportedly lifted verbatim from Pakistani propaganda literature.
Sources indicate the Union Government has taken an "extremely serious view" of the matter, particularly the alleged inclusion of content copied directly from Pakistani publications — all in a textbook meant for impressionable young minds in government schools across Jammu and Kashmir. The book was published, procured and circulated during the 2025-26 academic session under the Centrally sponsored Samagra Shiksha scheme.
Among the most damning allegations: the textbook reportedly hails slain JKLF co-founder Maqbool Bhat, hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Masarat Alam and Shabir Shah as "legendary personalities." Bhat is allegedly referred to as "Shaheed," while separatist figures are described as "freedom fighters" — language that has triggered outrage among officials.
Adding fuel to the fire, the book reportedly refers to Jammu and Kashmir using the terms "Indian Occupied Kashmir" and "Indian Held Kashmir" — phraseology drawn straight from Pakistan's official narrative on the region.
The textbook lists two authors — one from Kashmir, one from Jammu — and was brought out by a Jammu-based publishing house before being procured in bulk for distribution in government schools.
The scandal broke after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) flagged objections, prompting the Education Department to yank the book from circulation and suspend eight junior officials pending a formal inquiry.
In a sign of how seriously the matter is being treated, sources confirm that an FIR is being lodged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Should the investigation establish wrongdoing, those responsible could face arrest, dismissal from service, and other departmental action.
As the manhunt for Hilal Ahmed intensifies, one question looms large over the entire probe: how did a textbook allegedly laced with separatist glorification and Pakistani propaganda sail through approval, publication and distribution — right into the hands of J&K's schoolchildren? |